Jamaica head coach Lorne Donaldson says that Khadija Shaw’s red card against France represents a big loss for his side.
The Manchester City striker picked up a second booking and a subsequent red card in the final moments of her side’s opening FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 group match against France earlier today. The incident was the one negative from an excellent performance which saw Jamaica hold their opponents to an unexpected goalless draw.
Shaw will now miss Saturday’s fixture against Panama through suspension and head coach Donaldson said that the player’s scheduled absence is a blow.
“Losing Bunny Shaw, that’s a big loss,” Donaldson said when speaking in the post-match press conference. “You could see that she caused the French defenders a lot of problems.
“Losing a player of that stature is always a big loss but we have other players that we think will get the job done. Even though Bunny is young, there are other young players in the squad that will come in and give us a lift.”
The performances of some of the lower-ranked nations are making the headlines at the tournament. Donaldson said that the underdogs are going into games with belief and that his side always thought that they could get a result against France.
He said “We came into it thinking that we could get something out of the game. That is a fantastic French team, they are number four or five in the world but we always tell our players to not worry about the ranking.
“We had to come out, play hard and give it everything. Even though she got a red card, Bunny was fantastic, she gave it everything.
“The smaller nations are believing that they can get this done.”
Jamaica’s goalless draw with France saw them collect their first-ever point at a FIFA Women’s World Cup.
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